On Squirrels

    I can't say I chose squirrels as a subject because it is a slow news day. There is plenty of news about the current American election, the results of which are likely to be slowly reported over the next few months[in a few months you will applaud my prescience]. Squirrels are better subjects, however,  and I would rather focus on them than the larger Republican rodents to the south of us.

  It is fall and the squirrels are very active in our back yard. The falling leaves and the current "Indian summer" reminded me of my high school days when I used to go hunting for squirrels back in Maryland. So here are some thoughts quickly gathered so I can go outside and take advantage of the few warm days we have left.

The Colour of Squirrels

 

Black or Gray

   I think I remember correctly that most of the squirrels back in Maryland tended to be gray. The majority in the back yard right now are black, but the relations between them and the gray ones seem to be better than the relations between variously-coloured people, both here and in the U.S. 

   Apparently black squirrels were rather rare in the area where I grew up, an area just across the Chesapeake Bay from Washington, D.C.  That city now has a majority Black population and some black squirrels, thanks to Canadians. 

   The answer to the question, "Where did Washington's black squirrels come from?" is answered in the Washington Post. Here it is, in a nutshell:

"The first batch of black squirrels — eight in number — was sent to the National Zoo in 1902 by Thomas W. Gibson, Ontario’s superintendent for parks. Smithsonian secretary Samuel P. Langley, in his report to Congress that year, wrote that the squirrels were accepted “in exchange,” and, indeed, checking Canadian records, Answer Man discovered that Rondeau park received an unspecified number of gray squirrels from the Smithsonian. (They are “doing nicely,” reported park caretaker Isaac Gardiner.) 

The black squirrel and the gray squirrel are the same species of squirrel: Sciurus carolinensis, a.k.a. the Eastern gray squirrel, the only difference being a color variation. The black squirrels evince a “melanistic color phase,” the recessive gene for black coloration coming to the fore. 

The Canadian squirrels were released in the northwestern part of the zoo, “where they were very much at home,” according to the 1923 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. “They have since been constantly in the Park, especially from the vicinity of the great flight cage to the Klingle Valley, and they have spread northward to Cleveland Park and nearly to Chevy Chase.”

The entire article is found on April 1, 2011 in the Washington Post in a piece by John Kelly: "Where Did D.C.'s Black Squirrels Come From: Blame Canada." It was not an April Fool's joke and the subject of squirrels typically occupies a week of columns in the Washington Post every spring.  During that week in 2011, Kelly mentions that the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian has over 30,000 squirrel species. 

 

White

   You will likely know that there are even some white squirrels since there are some nearby in Exeter. You can learn more about them at Experience Exeter.  They are not only found in Ontario, but also in Olney, Illinois.  They are mentioned by Teale in Wandering Through Winter, (p.219). That town also uses them in municipal advertising and you can read about them here: White Squirrels of Olney. 

Red

   About them I will say little, except to say that they are in peril over in the U.K. where they are threatened by the gray ones. Have a look at the Red Squirrel Survival Trust. 

   Little additional needs to be added about squirrel colouring since a fellow who passed through London a while back, covered the subject. You will even learn that just as black squirrels were sent from Ontario to Washington, additional black critters were shipped from London to Kent State in Ohio. 

  The fellow mentioned is Ric Wallace, who describes himself as an ARTographer. He now lives in White Rock, B.C., but his London website is still alive and well and there is a whole subject devoted to Squirrel Stuff - and there is additional material on Victoria Park. Who would have thought? You can even buy squirrel memorabilia from him.

The Eating of Squirrels

   I mentioned that I went squirrel hunting, largely for 'sport', but  those killed were usually eaten. You very likely think that both the hunting and the eating of squirrels are primitive endeavours, but they both persist. You can hunt for them in Ontario and learn how to cook them in various YouTube videos. The most difficult parts of the exercise involve getting a hunting license and gun. Over in England it is popular to hunt the gray ones to help protect the red ones and a fellow in Old Darby, Leicestershire sells around 150 squirrel pies a week.

  In Paul Theroux's Deep South, the subject of eating squirrels comes up and the answer to the question he raised, "How Do You Cook Them?" is answered on p.353:

“Squirrel for breakfast -- smother-fried,” she said. “Gut the front shoulders and back legs and rib cage. You can cook the head too. Roll all of them in flour and shove them in a  skillet. Squirrel cooks real fast. Then put water into the skillet with the browned squirrel. The flour turns into gravy. Cover it, let it simmer awhile. It’s delicious first thing in the morning.” He is speaking with Pat and this is in Arkansas. There are other mentions of squirrel eating in the book."

 

   Apart from the new book, pictured above, see this fine piece by Mike Sula: "Chicken of the Trees," in the Chicago Reader, Aug.16, 2012. 

   This might be a subject you want to re-visit if we have additional food security issues, or if you find a drey in your attic.

The Migration of Squirrels

   I thought squirrels lived in relatively small areas, but in some cases they migrate and sometimes in great numbers.  They can even swim. The sun is shining so I will just provide some examples below. 

  I have several from this continent, but here is one from across the ocean:

"There are reports of mass migrations of both Red and Grey squirrels in response to seed crop failures. Following successive ‘good years’ a squirrel population increases to the carrying capacity of the habitat. If there is a subsequent poor mast year, there is insufficient food to support all the squirrels and they must either leave or starve. Reports from Russia in the 1930s and 40s describe enormous migrations of Red squirrels on the move, even swimming fast-flowing rivers such as the Amur, Ob and Yenesi or large bodies of water including Lake Baikal and the Gulf of Finland.

In Squirrels in Britain, Keith Laidler notes that the migrating squirrels “move in a long ‘skirmishing line, sometimes more than thirty-five miles [56 km] in extent”, are virtually impossible to stop once the migration has started, and tells of a hoard of black and grey squirrels swimming five miles (8 km) across Seneca Lake in New York state during 1848. According to Laidler, the migration ‘wave’ moves at about a mile and a half (2.4 km) per day. More recently, a large group of Greys were observed swimming across the Potomac River near Washington D.C. in the autumn of 1990. I’m not aware of any similar migrations having occurred in Britain."Source - Wildlife Online

Here are some screen shots from articles:

This is from the Scranton Tribune, Oct.1, 1897

The last example is from: "Migrations of the Gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis),"

Ernest Thompson Seton, Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 1, No. 2  (Feb., 1920), pp. 53-58.

Here is one of the more recent mass migrations that I was able to find:

"NOT ENOUGH NUTS IN NEW ENGLAND: Squirrels Have Started a Strange Migration Westward--Biggest Exodus Since 1927--Do They Smell a Hard Winter Coming?--Many Are Drowned Swimming Lakes," Lawrence Hanscom, Boston Globe, Oct. 8, 1933

For an equally fascinating post about the activities in our back yard see: SPARROWS